I want to thank all of you for your submissions to this week’s carnival. Before we peruse the selections, I want to, as we say here in the South, put a bug in your ear about something. The next Literature Carnival will take place on April 8, but the one after it falls one day before William Shakespeare’s birthday. For the April 22 edition of the Carnival, please submit your Shakespeare-themed posts, and let me know if submissions received well before then should be saved for the Shakespeare edition.

I always look forward to GrrlScientist’s submissions, especially her LabLit reviews. Read her review of Intuition by Allegra Goodman.

Ron Schuler probably didn’t know this about me when he submitted Prisoner Without Fingerprints — The Mystery of Thomas Malory, but I’m a huge King Arthur nut. The story of Sir Thomas Malory is almost as interesting as that of his famous legendary hero, and it is something I thoroughly enjoyed reading at Ron Schuler’s Parlour Tricks.

Margaret Atwood generated quite a buzz with her LongPen, which enables her to “meet and sign books for her fans all over the world from her own home.” It also generated some snark from “General Kang” at The Skwib.

One of the most interesting trends in blogging, perhaps (or perhaps not) originating with NaNoWriMo, is serial blogging — the publication of short stories or novels in serial format on a blog. I think this is one of the wonderful things about blogging — who needs to cater to an agent or a big publishing house when you can share your writing in your blog and reach your readers immediately? And what better way for agents and publishing houses to scout for talent? OUPblog submits part one of their serial blogging piece “Copycat.” (Yeah, I know, it isn’t exactly what I was talking about, as this piece was previously published, but you get the idea).

“The horror…” Heart of Darkness. Koranteng Ofosu-Amaah takes a look at the novel and the shadow it casts over Congo/African-related literature in his excellent post.

Ever get that “so many books, so little time” feeling? What do you do about it? Tanya Abramovitch at The Library Girl considers the options.

OK, folks, see you in two weeks with the ninth edition. Don’t forget to make your submissions for inclusion.

Finally!  I apologize for the carnival’s long absence.  Hopefully we can get this thing back on a bi-weekly schedule now.  Because I have limited time (I have a lot of essays to grade this week), I am limiting this week’s carnival strictly to submissions I received.

The Library Girl discusses the joys of enjoying one’s favorite hot beverage along with a good read.  I heard there used to be apparently still is a good bookstore in Atlanta called the Cup and Chaucer.  I live about a mile away from Coffee Buy the Book.  There’s just something about a nice hot cup of coffee or tea that goes so well with reading.  I can almost feel my IQ points go up when I go inside a coffeehouse or tearoom.

Grrl Scientist of Living the Scientific Life (Scientist Interrupted) reviews Michael Ruse’s The Evolution-Creation Struggle.  Very interesting book review — I would like to recommend Ed Larson’s books on the subject, mainly because I’ve heard him speak and he didn’t win the Pulitzer for nothing.

I read Jacob I Have Loved by Katherine Paterson in college as part of a course in Young Adult literature.  It’s a wonderful book.  The Autumn Rain thinks so too — read her review “When the Angst is Worth the Beauty.”

I’m afraid those are all the submissions I received — all very good ones!  I encourage you to submit your literature-related entries to the carnival now that we’re back on track.  I believe I received two other submissions that didn’t come through properly due to problems with my form.  When I invited the authors to resubmit, I didn’t hear anything.

If you would like your blog post to be featured in the next Literature Carnival, please use my carnival submission form.  Hope to see you in the next edition!

I promise not to do this every time, but rather than focus on posts written within the last week, I decided to focus on posts written about a particular author. I chose Jane Austen. I suppose it’s because I read most of her books my first year teaching, and I love her sense of humor. I have been thinking over the last week that I’ll pick up Persuasion, which I never finished all those years ago when I read her other books.

First of all, I was surprised to learn that Ms. Austen blogs. Sort of. At any rate, you can learn about all things Austen and truly call yourself an F.O.J. if you regularly visit AustenBlog.

Neil Gaiman points his readers to a Jane Austen font. That’s funny; I’d never have pegged him for an F.O.J. Can’t tell I learned a new term, or anything, can you?

With a new version of Pride and Prejudice, Austen movies are being discussed a bit more than books. If you’ve seen the new movie, you’re aware of the not-quite-F.O.J. ending (OK, I promise, I’ll stop — perhaps Janeite?), but what you might not have heard is that even though the Jane Austen Society of North America hated it, it seems that men like it. Shocking.

There are five reasons why you should watch or read Austen if your marriage is going into the toilet. I personally like number two best.

Jen Rouse takes a look at Northanger Abbey.

Jane celebrated a birthday on December 16. You can read about it at Ready Steady Book, Ron Schuler’s Parlour Tricks, and happytrails!.

To submit literary blog posts for next week’s carnival, e-mail dana @ huffenglish.com with the subject line Carnival. Please include a link to the item and the category for which it should be considered. Deadline is 10:00 P.M. each Friday. And it doesn’t have to be about Jane Austen.

Do you know what a blog carnival is? Basically, it is kind of blogging “community” focused on a particular interest. For example, I read and sometimes participate in an education blog carnival usually hosted by the Education Wonks. I really enjoy it, and it has helped me discover lots of education blogs.

I was thinking of hosting a carnival here. Casting about for ideas, I decided to host a carnival about literature/books. I think that makes sense, as this blog is mainly about what I’m reading. I have concocted this edition of the Literature Carnival myself. As the carnival grows, I will accept submissions from other bloggers. Submissions can be book reviews, writing about writing, writing about authors — as long as it’s all about books. This isn’t the same think as Bookslut’s blog, which links websites and news stories about books. This is a collection of links to blogs about books.

Carnival of Literature, First Edition

When I was recently reading Lolita, I commented to my husband that it was a really good book — the prose is beautiful in some places. Obviously Humbert Humbert is loathsome, and I don’t believe the reader is actually meant to sympathize with him. He is the classical example of the unreliable narrator. Still, my husband refuses to read it, remarking that it is nothing more than a book about a pederast. Which begs the question — should one read an “immoral” book? Bookish answers.

Speaking of Lolita, Stephen Metcalf ponders whether or not it’s still shocking (OK, maybe Slate isn’t exactly a blog).

Booklust has some gorgeous images from a book of postcards entitled For the Love of Libraries: Photographs and Anecdotes. I like the one of the lovers in the stacks. Booklust’s quote from Larry Rubin is apt: “They kiss in cubicles; for all we know they breed down there in the twelfth century.” Perhaps I reveal too much about myself…

Until now, the publishing industry has been centered around authors. Jane Friedman envisions a future when it is centered around publishing companies. “Ms. Friedman made the comment last summer that she envisions a time when authors are secondary to the brand name imprint, that future book buyers will want to buy a book because Harper Collins is the publisher.” Booksquare examines the issue.

Chekhov’s Mistress considers collecting first edition books and gives some advice on how to find and care for rare books.

Syntax of Things discusses underrated writers. Perhaps you’d like to send along a submission?

Michelle Richmond has some advice for creative writers at Sans Serif.

Ghost Word ponders giving books for gifts. What are you giving? Recommendations?

Bill Benzon, guest writer for The Valve considers whether it’s necessary to read deeper than the surface level of texts. Makes me think of the old saw that English class kills our appreciation for literature.

That’s it for the first Literature Carnival. Let’s make this a regular venture. If you are interested in sharing your posts about literature, e-mail me at dana @ huffenglish.com with the subject line “Carnival” and a link to the post in the text of your e-mail. The deadline is Friday, December 30 at 10:00 P.M. Feel free to submit logos, too.